Música nueva

As part of their residency here at Carnegie Hall, members of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela introduce four new chamber works, all commissioned by Carnegie Hall, by composers from throughout Latin America. Joining them on this concert is Panama native Danilo Pérez, a jazz pianist and composer whose music is dedicated to exploring the links between musical styles to find what he calls “our diversity through one sound.”

Bios

Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela

The Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (SBSOV) was founded by Dr. José Antonio
Abreu and a group of fellow musicians who were inspired by the ideals of Simón Bolívar. The
orchestra comprises more than 200 young musicians ages 18-28, and is the flagship of the
Fundación Musical Simón Bolívar's orchestral academic program, known as El Sistema.

Across Venezuela, El Sistema currently involves 400,000 beneficiaries-75 percent of whom
live below the poverty line-in a system that includes more than 1,550 music groups
distributed among 286 academic centers. "For the children that we work with, music is
practically the only way to a dignified social destiny. Poverty means loneliness, sadness,
anonymity. An orchestra means joy, motivation, teamwork, the aspiration to success," says
Dr. Abreu.

El Sistema allows the musicians of the SBSOV to explore demanding repertoire through
master classes and concerts, involving soloists from leading orchestras and arts
institutions, such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Sibelius Academy of Finland,
Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, and New England Conservatory. Their work with
international conductors has included performances with Sir Simon Rattle and Claudio
Abbado, as well as working for months with Gustavo Dudamel, the orchestra's music director
and a product of El Sistema.

The SBSOV has toured Germany several times, and performed at the Parco della Musica
in Rome, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, and Lucerne Easter Festival. In the summer of 2007, it
appeared at the BBC Proms, Edinburgh Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, and Semperoper
Dresden. Later that year, the SBSOV toured to Mexico, Spain, Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Boston, and Carnegie Hall, where the orchestra was conducted by Mr. Dudamel and Mr. Rattle
as part of the Berlin in Lights festival. In 2008, the SBSOV performed in
residency at the Salzburg Festival and made its Asian debut with concerts in Beijing,
Seoul, Tokyo, and Hiroshima. The following year, the orchestra made its Canadian debut to
celebrate the awarding of the Glenn Gould Prize to Dr. Abreu.

Appearances in 2010 included a residency at the Lucerne Festival, a major European tour,
and a Latin American tour to mark the bicentennial of the region's independence. Between
January and February 2012, the SBSOV participated in a three-week residency at Walt Disney
Concert Hall in Los Angeles, alternating with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in performances
of Mahler's nine symphonies as part of The Mahler Project led by Mr. Dudamel.
This program culminated in Caracas, with concerts by both orchestras at the Teatro Teresa
Carreño. In June and July, the SBSOV performed at Stirling Castle in Scotland as part of
the Cultural Olympiad, framed within the celebration of the London Olympics.

Joshua Dos Santos

After his international debut with Venezuela's Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in The
Mahler Project with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a part of the Dudamel
Fellowship Program, Joshua Dos Santos has emerged as one of Venezuela's most
internationally renowned young conductors.

Known for his versatility and experience on the podium, Mr. Dos Santos has developed his
musical skills within Venezuela's El Sistema program. He made his debut at the age of 15,
conducting Mascagni's opera Cavalleria rusticana. He is a pupil of Dr. José
Antonio Abreu, and has also studied at the State Foundation for the National System of
Youth and Children's Orchestras of Venezuela with Mario Benzecry, Sung Kwak, Eduardo
Marturet, and Gustavo Dudamel.

Between 2010 and 2011, Mr. Dos Santos went on tour throughout Venezuela, including
Caracas, where he conducted new Latin American compositions during the 16th Latin American
Music Festival with Venezuela's Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. He has a deep command of
contemporary repertoire, and regularly conducts Venezuelan and Latin American musical works
as a way to promote them to a wider audience.

In 2012, Mr. Dos Santos started working with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the
guidance of Charles Dutoit, Neeme Järvi, Pablo Heras-Casado, and Gustavo Dudamel. He was
also an assistant conductor during Dudamel's recent European tour with the Simón Bolívar
Symphony Orchestra.

Danilo Pérez

The extraordinary Panamanian pianist and composer Danilo Pérez is among the most
influential and dynamic musicians of our time. In just over a decade, his distinctive blend
of Pan-American jazz has attracted critical acclaim and loyal audiences. Pérez's abundant
talents and joyous enthusiasm make his concerts both memorable and inspiring. Whether
leading his own ensembles or touring with renowned jazz masters (such as Wayne Shorter, Roy
Haynes, and Steve Lacy), Pérez is making a decidedly fresh imprint on contemporary music,
guided, as always, by his love for jazz.

Born in Panama in 1965, Pérez started his musical studies at just three years of age with
his father, a bandleader and singer. By age 10, he was studying the European classical
piano repertoire at the National Conservatory in Panama. After receiving his bachelor's
degree in electronics, he moved to the US, where he first enrolled at Indiana University of
Pennsylvania and later transferred to the Berklee College of Music. While completing his
studies in jazz composition, he performed with Jon Hendricks, Terence Blanchard, Claudio
Roditi, and Paquito D'Rivera. Since the late 1980s, he has appeared with Jack DeJohnette,
Charlie Haden, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Tito Puente, Wynton Marsalis, John Patitucci,
Tom Harrell, and Gary Burton. He also produced the critically acclaimed
Reunion album that featured D'Rivera and Arturo Sandoval, and later appeared
on Sandoval's Grammy-winning Danzón.

Pérez is a UNESCO Artist for Peace, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, cultural ambassador of his
native Panama, president and founder of the Panama Jazz Festival, artistic advisor of the
innovative Mellon Jazz Up Close series at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and faculty
member of both the New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music.

Gonzalo Rubalcaba

Gonzalo Rubalcaba was born in post-revolutionary Havana in 1963. During his childhood, he
absorbed the Cuban musical heritage through personal contacts within his family-notably his
father, pianist Guillermo Rubalcaba, and his two brothers-as well as from leading musicians
who were frequent visitors, including Frank Emilio, Peruchin, and Felipe Dulzaides. Through
scarce and treasured recordings, he assimilated the tunes and styles of US jazz masters
Thelonius Monk, Bud Powell, Oscar Peterson, Charlie "Bird" Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art
Blakey. Despite the diversity of his background, his initial formal musical training was
entirely classical.

By the time he graduated from Havana's Institute of Fine Arts in 1983, he was already
playing in clubs and music halls. He toured with Orquesta Aragón in 1980 and introduced his
own Grupo Proyecto to the North Sea and Berlin festivals in 1985. Further works earned him
a Latin Grammy for Jazz Album of the Year (Supernova), as well as a Grammy for
co-production with Charlie Haden (Nocturne). To his credit, he now has 15 Grammy
nominations.

Rubalcaba continues to tour the world as a solo pianist in jazz and classical settings,
while also being a bandleader. His repertoire continues to expand beyond straight-ahead,
bop, Afro-Cuban, and other forms of jazz into the worlds of traditional Cuban and Mexican
ballads, boleros, and Cuban classical works. Rubalcaba has developed his own distinctive
voice, challenging traditional musical classifications of the day.

Lead support for Carnegie Hall commissions is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Lead funding for Voices from Latin America is provided by grants from the Ford Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Sponsored, in part, by Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Mercantil Servicios Financieros.

Public support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Consulate General of Brazil in New York.

Biographies for Enrico Chapela and Esteban Benzecry

Enrico Chapela

Born in Mexico City, Enrico Chapela studied at the Centro de Instrucción y Educación Moderna Private School (CIEM) in Mexico, and later obtained a master's degree in 2008 from the Université Paris 8. Since 2002, he has won several national and international recognitions, including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA), International Rostrum of Composers, Alexander Zemlinsky International Composition Competition Prize, and Barlow Endowment for Music Composition Prize.

Chapela has received commissions from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dresdner Sinfoniker, Berkeley Symphony, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, University of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Carlos Chávez, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, New Paths in Music Festival, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Wigmore Hall, and Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts. His music has been performed around the world by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, and Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, as well as at the Tanglewood Festival and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.

Chapela teaches composition at CIEM Private School and hosts MetaMúsica, a contemporary music radio show broadcast on Opus 94.5 FM in Mexico City. His music is published exclusively by Boosey & Hawkes.

Esteban Benzecry

Argentinean Esteban Benzecry is one of South America's renowned young composers. His most recent works attempt to fuse diverse aesthetic currents in European contemporary music with rhythms and folklore rooted in the Latin American tradition.

Benzecry's works have been commissioned by the Sydney Opera House, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta y Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Colburn Orchestra, Ensemble l'itinéraire, and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, among others, as well as the major orchestras of Latin America.

He has been honored with distinctions from the Musical Critics Association of Argentina and Académie des Beaux-Arts. In 1995, Benzecry was composer-in-residence at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland; from 2004 to 2008, he was a resident composer at the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid. In 2008, he received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for Music Composition.

After receiving his diploma as professor of painting from the Buenos Aires Superior School of Fine Arts, Benzecry studied musical composition with Haydee Gerardi and Sergio Hualpa in Argentina and with Jacques Charpentier at the Paris Conservatoire, where he was awarded first prize by a unanimous jury in 1999. He also studied composition with Paul Méfano and electro-acoustic music with Luis Naón and Laurent Cuniot.